How You Can Help

Before Jordan left for Iraq, I found these Psalm 91 bandannas online and ordered several for him to take with him.

Moma also got him this book of testimonies about how God has used the Psalm 91 bandanna during combat/deployment situations, and the story behind the bandanna’s creation.

Moma spoke with Jordan today, and every person in his tent wants their own Psalm 91 bandanna! Praise Jesus! He also said they they all are passing his book around and sharing it.

Many of you have asked how you can help support Jordan and his fellow airmen. While your prayers are still what we ask most of you, if you would also like to help us get the Psalm 91 bandannas into the hands of as many of Jordan's peers as possible, we would be most appreciative.

You can mail a check to either myself or my mom (email for mailing address) or you can send money securely through my paypal account (click the button below). Any donation would help. The bandannas are $7.99 each and the books are $8.95 each.

Thank you!

-posted by Jaime

PICTURES!

Imagine my elation when I checked my email yesterday and had 15 emails from Jordan all full of pictures! Oh, it made me so happy to get to see him and gave me such peace knowing that he really is ok. I know you will enjoy seeing them too. I got to speak with him on Thanksgiving, and it was WONDERFUL to hear his voice! He is doing well. He is tired and a little homesick, but he feels safe and is making lots of friends in true Jordan fashion.

Also, there is a slight change to Jordan's address. If I have given it to you and not emailed you with the correction, please let me know. Stuff that has already been mailed to him is still getting to him, but we will need to use the new address in the future. Anything you would like for him to receive before Christmas needs to be mailed before December 4. If you could just take the time to send him a Christmas card, I know that would help him during this lonely time of year. Thank you again for all of your love and support!

-posted by Jaime

Jordan's New Friend

I talked to Jordan on Saturday. He sounded exhausted as he has every time I've talked to him since he arrived in Iraq. He was about to fall asleep after working for twelve hours on a day that was suppose to be his day off. Even though he was so incredibly tired and he didn't get a day off, I never once heard him complain. He is a true soldier!

The reason he was deprived his day off was because the Vice President of Iraq was making a visit on his Air Force Base. Jordan got to see him and meet a lot of other Iraqi policemen. He was very impressed with the character of all the men he met. This was Jordan's first real encounter with any Iraqi citizens. He said that they were very interested in his age and whether or not he was married and had children. They would ask, "Madam?" or "Children?"

One Iraqi policeman, who spoke very little English, came up to Jordan. The policeman pointed to himself and then pointed to Jordan. He said, "Friends!" and gave Jordan a thumbs up. Jordan politely smiled and said, "Yes, Friends." The policeman then noticed that Jordan had a watch on just like he did. He pointed to his watch and then pointed to Jordan's watch. He said, "Trade?" Jordan then traded watches with the Iraqi policeman.

I thought this was such a cool story, and I just had to share it. It's stories like these that we don't hear on the news. There are good things happening admits the all the chaos going on over there.

-posted by Lindsay

Care Package Suggestions

Because so many of you have asked, we have come up with this list of items that are permissible and would also be useful to Jordan in a care package. These are not the only things that are permissible, but just the things we could come up with at the time. If you have any questions, just email one of us. While Jordan would love to get any of these things in a package, I 'm sure he would cherish most a note of encouragement and appreciate your prayers more than anything. Thank you!

Care Package Suggestions:
CDs
DVDs
Video games (Jordan has a PSP system with him)
Beef jerky
Candy that doesn’t melt easily
Cereal/ granola bars (Clifbars are Jordan’s favorite)
Sunflower seeds
Chewing gum
Nuts
Ziploc bags
Deodorant
Toiletries (body wash, powder, aftershave)
Little Debbie’s
Altoids/mints
Coffee
Drink mix
Playing cards
Toothbrushes & toothpaste
Snacks in individual packages (big bags often fill with sand if not eaten right away)
Microwave meals that don’t need refrigeration
Canned food items
Pringles chips
Microwave popcorn
Ramen noodles
Macaroni & cheese
Hot cocoa mix
Soup mix
Newspapers
Magazines
Batteries
Canned air to blow sand out of electronics
Lysol wipes
Hand and face wipes
Board games
Boot socks
Underwear
Ink pens
Word puzzle books
Icy/hot patches
Air activated heat wraps for sore muscles
Foot massager
Microwaveable plates, bowls
Plastic forks, spoons
Vitamins
Paperback books
Over the counter medicine (Advil, Pepto, Claritin, etc)

-posted by Jaime

Jordan's New Address

We have Jordan's new Iraqi address! This is a huge praise because we weren't sure how soon we would get to talk to him or get his address, and we already have both! God is good!

Every thing I have read about supporting our troops and first hand interviews with those who have been in Iraq says that the contact with people back home, whether they knew each other back home or not, makes all the difference. Even if you have never met Jordan, if you are reading this then you must care about him and what he is doing. Please commit to sending him several notes of encouragement over the next 6 months. I would love for him to get at least one piece of mail a day for the entirety of his deployment! Please share his address with anyone who would be willing to participate in supporting him. If you are a school or Sunday School teacher it would be a great project for your class to do and send in one large envelope.

I have a list of items that are permissible to send in care packages. I will post that soon. Right now, he would love just a piece of mail. I am not going to publish his address on here for security reasons, but email me and I would love to forward it to you. ( natenjme@aol.com )

I can't thank you enough for your prayers and emails and words of sweet encouragement. I have cried more in the last week than I think I have in my previous 26 years combined, but I have also had abundant peace that Jordan is going to be fine and that God's will is being done. Moma and Lindsay both have been troopers! They are both trusting in God and handling everything far better than I thought either of them would. God is good.

-posted by Jaime

First Update From Iraq

I've been able to talk to Jordan! He is safe on his Air Base. He was cracking me up, because he was complaining about all the sand there. He said…"You know how I feel about sand…and it is EVERYWHERE!” I told him, that maybe we will learn to love the sand so when he gets back, he will have a more enjoyable experiences at the beach. I asked if he felt safe. He said that he did and most of the time he forgot he was even in Iraq. I felt good about that. He said that he will be getting his mailing address soon. He sounded a lot better yesterday than when I talked to him on Friday. They did not arrive to the base until Saturday morning and they gave them Sunday off. He is in a tent with his two best friends, so he was extremely happy about that. He said that the base was HUGE and that the living conditions were good. He said the weather wasn’t too bad. It got a little hot during the day but nothing too bad. Today he is training and learning the base. He’s not sure when he will start patrolling the flight lines. I think this is all he said. The two times I have talked to him have been for only three minutes. They don’t give them a ton of time to talk, so that really frustrates me. But I’m thankful that I’ve been able to talk to him at all!

-posted by Lindsay

Not So Happy Halloween

Yesterday was a hard day. I am sure you did not expect anyone in our family to say it was a fun, easy day. But as I drove home from Charleston between the tears I was trying with all my heart to find some positives in sending my son off to war. I thought of the blessing in just the past 24 hours…. One is I know that so many people love Jordan enough to send him notes of encouragement for his “going away book.” He was very touched by your notes of love. I gave it to him Tuesday night after dinner when we went back to the hotel. He read a few pages and said he would have to read it all later he just could not take it all in. It was the only time I saw him get emotional. He was the brave strong solider the remainder of the time.

Another blessing Tim and I talked about was how we thankful we were Jordan didn’t have children that would be with out a daddy for 6 months. Jordan had told us of the men going all but 3 were married with children. Jordan told us one of his best friends had a wife that would give birth to their first child while he is in Iraq. How sad he will miss that.

Another blessing that comes to mind so very often is my strong family and our love for each other. Jordan’s sisters, brothers, brothers-in-law, nieces, parents, grandparents and our dear sweet, sweet Lindsay will all love Jordan and each other through this… so many have no one.

One of the major blessings and answers to prayer yesterday was Jordan and I were talking and he told me his two best friends that were going with him were very strong Christian men. Wow that was such a wonderful feeling to know that was who my son will be with night and day 24/7 for the next 6 months. Yes it was hard, hard day for all of us and I know we will have more hard days but there were blessing too and I know there will be many more blessings in the hard days to come.

We love you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for lifting up Jordan and the many others that serve along side him in prayer daily.

-posted by Kathy